ABC News' The Note: First Source for Political News

W A S H I N G T O N, July 23, 2004&#151;<br> -- NOTED NOW

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3 days until the Democratic convention38 days until the Republican convention102 days until election day

NEWS SUMMARY:

With three signature events today — the president in Detroit at the Urban League, Sens. Kerry and Edwards kicking off the Road to Boston in Colorado, and the Bush daughters chatting online — the ABC News Political Unit has . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . NOTES FOR EVERYONE!!!!!

Notes to the media:

1. When packing for Boston, ask yourself "WWAMD?" ("What would Andrea Mitchell do?" — the woman has done conventions, summits, you name it, and she knows what she's doing.)

2. That big, ugly blob in government center actually is City Hall. Just accept it and move on.

3. It's easy to get Mayor Menino to say something controversial — too easy, in fact. Think of him as the Chuck Hagel of mayors.

4. The Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary exists to serve your ocular and auditory medical problems. Use it as needed.

5. Watch closely to see whether there's any tug of war between speechgivers and the Kerry campaign over content.

6. Try — at least try — to not use the phrase "close the deal" in every story you write next week.

7. You are going to want to read the transcript of Peter Jennings' interview with John Kerry curtain raising the convention. There's a lot of great stuff in here. LINK

Notes to Delta Airlines:

1. We warned you we were coming through your tiny little temporary Boston shuttle terminal. Be ready.

2. The greater the threat of thunderstorms, the more competent and vocal the customer service representatives you need in the departure areas of Washington and New York.

Notes to the Kerry campaign:

1. If you are looking for your senior staff Sunday evening, we suggest checking Fenway Park.

2. It's possible that at some point Elizabeth Edwards will collect a bad press clip, but if there's an office pool, bet later than sooner.

3. Thank your lucky stars that the 9/11 commission cleared the decks before your convention.

4. Can you get Brad Woodhouse to cut back on the e-mails next week?

Notes to the Bush campaign/RNC:

1. Make sure you don't get the expectations of your top surrogates too high.

2. After the convention, if the race is tied OR Kerry is up 15, Matthew Dowd was right!!!!

3. Jim Dyke has the prettiest Republican smile since Lauren Maddox.

4. Just because the Boston Police Department doesn't seem to care for Mayor Menino doesn't mean they won't ticket your rental cars like crazy.

Notes to Note readers:

1. We will publish The Note on both days this weekend, to bring you all the convention curtain-raising you could ever dream of.

2. We reserve the right to continue to end sentences with prepositions, even though some of you have warned us that that is something up with which you will not put.

3. Please, for the love of heaven, stop asking us where the best parties are in Boston.

4. For the best gavel-to-gavel coverage of the convention in Boston, on your PC, cable system, or wireless device, turn to ABC News Now. Full details here. LINK

5. And for up-to-the-minute news that answers the political and musical question "what's going on?" check out Noted Now at its new Internet home — anytime around the clock. LINK

Heading into the weekend before the Democratic convention, the Sens. John today kick off their national tour in the birthplace of Sen. Kerry, the Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Aurora/Denver, Colo. After a tour of the hospital, Kerry is joined by Sen. Edwards for a 2:30 pm ET rally. The two then separate; Edwards heads to Milwaukee for an 8:15 pm ET fundraiser and Kerry stays in Denver for the evening before heading to Iowa tomorrow for a Sioux City rally. On Sunday Kerry is in Columbus and on Monday he is in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Tomorrow Edwards is in Milwaukee, and Sunday he is in San Antonio before flying into Raleigh.

President Bush today is in Detroit, speaking to the Urban League Conference at 10:05 am ET, before heading down to Crawford to raise money for the RNC and spend the weekend at his ranch.

Vice President Dick Cheney is in Myrtle Beach today for a 6:30 pm ET fundraiser for U.S. Senate candidate Jim DeMint. Lynne Cheney is in the west, speaking at a Washington state Republican fundraiser in Seattle and visiting the Oregon Trail Interpretive in Oregon City.

And don't forget Jenna and Barbara Bush, who host a Web chat at LINKat 5:30 pm ET.

Congress begins its six-week summer recess today.

The politics of the 9/11 commission:

This morning's newspapers and morning TV shows were filled to bustin' with analysis of the final 9/11 commission report.

New York Times : LINK

The Washington Post : LINK

USA Today on the 9/11 report and: the commission's expectations LINK; the FBI LINK; the intelligence power structure LINK; and ties between al Qaeda and Iran LINK

Wallsten and Gold of the Los Angeles Times explore the commission's report as a political football. LINK

The Chicago Tribune: LINK

Knight Ridder: LINK

The Washington Times : LINK

Todd Purdum's New York Times news analysis: LINK

The Washington Post 's Dana Priest and Walter Pincus write up the report's recommendations. LINK

The Washington Post 's R. Jeffrey Smith looks at the section dealing with the relationship between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda — and the memo by the counterterrorism director that argued it didn't exist. LINK

The Washington Post 's grand David von Drehle turns in an examination of the "humbled America" described in the 567 pages of the 9/11 commission report. LINK

Bush and Kerry see the report through different lenses. LINK

The New York Post 's Deborah Orin (with a little help from a traveling Stefan Friedman) Notes the president's lack of an endorsement for an intelligence czar. LINK

Orin also columnizes on the political fallout and writes that it "could be limited" due to the commission providing enough bipartisan blame to go around. LINK

The Washington Post 's Ceci Connolly Notes "even before they could digest the book-length report by the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, relatives of the victims began pressing Congress and President Bush to implement its raft of recommendations." LINK

The Washington Times ' Brian DeBose reports that congressional leaders don't expect to deal with any of the changes suggested in the 9/11 commission report until after the November elections. LINK

The Washington Post 's Linton Weeks reports brisk sales of the 9/11 report in Washington bookstores.LINK

ABC News Vote 2004: Kerry-Edwards '04:

Dr. Ron Brownstein of the Los Angeles Times is on poll duty for today's edition and we don't anticipate another Dowd/Pinkus flurry of activity. The horserace has Kerry two statistically insignificant points ahead of the president with or without Nader in the mix. LINK

Brownstein goes on to predict a traditional post-convention bounce could be in the offing for Sen. Kerry because about a third of those polled by the Times said they didn't know enough about John Kerry.

So, as always, poll numbers will continue to drive the narrative in this contest, which gives way to two possible scenarios for John Kerry when he boats, planes, trains, choppers out of Boston.

1. The Kerry bounce is significant enough for journalists to write stories about those wrong track folks who didn't know enough about John Kerry prior to the convention, learning what they needed to learn and deciding he is a viable alternative. However, will they stay with him through the Republican National Convention and the debates? Well, we have to have something to talk about between now and November.

2. The bounce isn't large enough to prevent leads such as this one from Ron Brownstein's write up of the Los Angeles Times poll, begetting August stories focused on why John Kerry appears unable to (just getting this out of our system . . . ) close the deal. (Yes, we know the election isn't until November.)

"Despite dissatisfaction with the country's direction and the administration's principal policies, the presidential race remains a virtual dead heat," writes Brownstein.

And be sure to check out the Florida (tied) and Pennsylvania (Kerry leading by 9 points among likely voters) poll numbers. Brownstein's write-up of these battleground state poll numbers begs a Sunday Styles piece on the difference between Keystone State women and their Sunshine State sisters. LINK

The Los Angeles Times' Matea Gold was able to get a whole story out of John Kerry's musings on abortion from his talk with Peter Jennings. LINK

Here are excerpts from USA Today 's interview with Kerry. LINK

The AP's Nedra Pickler Notes next week's focus on Kerry "The Man." We guarantee, though, that at least one person at KE'04 will cringe when reading this line: "Kerry's campaign has been more about what President Bush has done wrong and which policies Kerry would implement to do better." LINK

The Washington Post 's Jim VandeHei Notes Sen. Kerry "on Thursday promised new government spending to combat gang violence and rising unemployment in urban areas." LINK

USA Today 's Kasindorf writes that Kerry's speech to the National Urban League ="was an attempt to one-up President Bush with predominantly African-American organizations for a second time in two weeks." LINK

The New York Post writes up Kerry's Urban League remarks about gang violence and his blame on the Bush Administration for not doing enough to end it. LINK

The Washington Times ' Charles Hurt reports that during his visit to the National Urban League in Detroit on Thursday, Sen. Kerry agreed to debate President Bush on civil rights in a forum sponsored by the group. LINK

The Washington Post 's Howard Kurtz analyzes John Kerry's ads. LINK

Athletic presidential candidates need athletic Secret Service agents by their side. The Los Angeles Times has the story. LINK

Knight Ridder's Steven Thomma writes about how Democrats are united behind Kerry to defeat Bush, but they are still divided on a number of issues. LINK

The New York Times ' Stanley reviews two Kerry biopics you'll see on cable this weekend when you're not watching the World Series of Poker. LINK